Wire terminal and insulating sleeve



A ril 15, 1952 E. H. BRANSON 2,592,788

WIRE TERMINAL AND INSULATING SLEEVE Filed Sept. 28, 1948 HIS ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 15, 1952 WIRE TERMINAL AND INSULATING SLEEVE Edward H. Branson, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to General Railway Signal Company, Rochester,

' Application September 28, 1948, Serial No. 51,550

This invention relates to a wire terminating organization wherein several wires are fabricated into a cable and the free ends of the wires extending from the cable are provided with identifying markers and eyelets to facilitate their connection to terminal boards, relays or other electrical devices.

In wire cables of this character and also with a series of single wires, it is usually desirable that each individual wire be marked permanently with a code, ora number, so that it may be fastened to a terminal or binding post having the same code marker, thereby facilitating the wiring connections at the time of installation and also at any time when it may be necessary to temporarily remove the wires for any reason. .When wire eyelets or terminals are attached to the ends of the wires it necessitates skinning the insulation therefrom which consequently leaves the ends of the insulating braid unprotected and subject to fraying as well as leaving small portions of the bared wires exposed. With certain types of eyelets, the eyelet extension which encircles the insulation on the wire is also exposed.

A common practice for processing wire cables of this nature consists of placing temporary markers on each wire, cutting the wire to the desired length, attaching the eyelet thereto, covering the exposed bare wire and insulating braid with insulating tape, and then placing a permanent wrap around type marker on the wire before removing the temporary marker. The eyehlet and wire connection is dipped in solder to secure the connection and the tape is covered with a suitable insulating paint or compound.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a means whereby the wires may be marked permanently at the time the cable is 1 Claim. (01. 173-269) cable comprised of three wires, each of which is provided with a marked protecting sleeve and a tapered bushing at its terminating end, and one which is provided with a corresponding intermediate marker;

Fig. 2 is a view showing a preliminary step in the assembly procedure;

Fig. 3 is a view showing a further step in the assembly procedure;

Fig. 4 shows the final step in the assembly procedure requiring the use of a special tool;

Fig. 5 is an endview of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a view showing the finished assembly and is shown partly in section for clearness; Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 2 except showing the application of an extension type eyelet; and,

Fig. 8 is a view of the finished assembly where the extension type eyelet of Fig. '7 is used and is shown partly in section for clearness.

With reference to Fig. 1, the wires l, 2, and 3, only three being shown for convenience, are

grouped. together and tied with twine 4, or

wrapped with insulating tape as preferred, to form a cable C, the ends of the wires'protruding from the cable for a suitable length to allow connections to be made .to a terminal board, relay' or other such device. Suitable locking bushings 5 and insulating sleeves 6 bearing numbers or any desired code marks, such as IA, 23, and 3C are slipped over the ends and along the wires and the ends of the wires are knotted to prevent the sleeves 6 from falling off. The indicia or code symbols may be placed on the sleeves 6 in any suitable way, such as by printing with an indelible ink or by impression printing or the like.

After placement of the cable and the proper length of the wire has been determined, the wire is cut to length and the insulation skinned off to allow application of the eyelet. In the form shown in Fig. 2, the wire -I is bared, wrapped around the eyelet l and twisted about itself as shown at 8 and is then dipped in solder to insure a good electrical conducting connection. The insulating protector sleeve 6 bearing the wire code number and the locking bushing 5, already on the wire I as mentioned above, may nowbe moved along the wire to a position adjacent the eyelet 1, ready for assembly.

Referring more particularly to the sleeve 5 and bushing 5, these two parts are made of a resilient plastic electrical insulating material which is flame resistant, the bushing 5 preferably being molded and the sleeve 6 can be cut from tubing. The bushing 5 is tapered lengthwise and is also split or slotted lengthwise, this slot 5a being of a substantial width as shown for reasons explained hereinafter. The inside diameter of this bushing 5 is such that it will fit loosely over a small wire, say No. 16 wire as shown in Fig. 2, and is large enough to fit and slide over a larger wire, such as No. 12 wire shown in Fig. 7.' The outer surface of this bushing 5 is tapered lengthwise as mentioned above to form a cone shape and is of such a size as to contact the inside surface of the sleeve 6 at a point approximately midway lengthwise on the bushing 5, about as shown in Fig. 3. Both the inside diameter andoutside diameter of the sleeve 6 are uniform throughout the entire length of the sleeve.

When assembling the unit, the sleeve 6 is moved along the wire I to a position adjacent the eyelet I, so that it covers the bare portion of the wire and the end of the insulation at the point where the insulation was removed to allow attachment of the eyelet I (see Fig. 3). The locking bushing 5 is then slid along the wire until the small end enters the sleeve 6, from which point it is forced by hand into the sleeve 6 as far as possible to hold the parts into position. The assembled parts are now placed into the special tool T for final looking into position.

This special tool T, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, could be called a pair of forked parallel jaw pliers, each fork 9 being recessed as shown at and slotted at right angles to the recess ID as shown at H to thereby accommodate the assembled parts. In the position shown, the right hand fork 9 bears against one end of the sleeve 6 while the left hand fork 9 bears against the opposite end of the bushing 5, the slots l l in these forks 9 straddling the wire I. It can readily be seen that when an inward pressure is exerted on the handles 12, the forks 9 will move toward each other,

thereby forcing the tapered bushing '5 into the sleeve 6 and causing a tight frictional connection, as shown in Fig. 6. In this connection, it should be pointed out that during the process of forcing the tapered bushing into the sleeve 6, and due to the fact that this tapered bushing 5 is made of a resilient plastic material and has a relatively wide slot 5a therein, the diameter of said bushing 5 gradually decreases, closing in the sides of said slot 5a, thereby causing the inside of the bushing 5 to clamp tightly to the wire 1 and the outside of the bushing 5 to fit tightly inside of the sleeve 6.

Referring further to Fig.6, it is apparent that a permanent wire terminal connection has been provided wherein the end of the insulating braid covering on the wire has been protected against fraying, the bare exposed portion of the wire has been covered with an electrically insulating sleeve and the wire is permanently marked with a number or code by the same marker that was placed thereon at the time the cable was being fabricated. I

With reference to Figs. 7 and 8, there is shown an application of the sleeve 6 and bushing 5 to a large size wire and an extension type eyelet wherein the eyelet clamps the end of the insulation as well as the end of the bare wire. In this stranded wire 2 is separated into two-parts as shown at 2a and wrapped around the eyelet l3, the ends being twisted together. The extensions 13a on the eyelet I 3 are bent around the insulation on the wire 2, thereby protecting the insulation as well as making a more rigid connection.

The application of the sleeve 6 and tapered bushing 5 is much the same as previously described, except as altered and shown in Fig. 8. It will be noted that in this form of the invention, the sleeve 6 will cover the extensions 3a of the eyelet l3 and act as an insulator thereon. Also, as the wire 2 is somewhat larger in diameter, the tapered bushing 5, when being'forced into the sleeve 6, will not compress as much as previously described in connection with the smaller wire I. As a result, the tapered bushing 5 will tend to expand the resilient plastic sleeve 6 and form a tight frictional joint. Also, the bushing 5 will not enter the sleeve 5 far enough to interfere with the extensions 13a on the eleyet l3.

As mentioned above, the sleeve 6 also constitutes the wire marker so that once the sleeve is in place on the wire, that particular wire is permanently marked. Also this sleeve 6 provides a convenient grip when the wire is being handled during the process of making or breaking connections, thus preventing any unnecessary strains on the wire itself due to pulling, pushing, or bending. This sleeve type marker obviously is adaptable for use with any type of eyelet, conventional tip plug, or other type of terminal. In some cases it may be desirable to use such sleeve type markers at intermediate places along the wire with or without a corresponding marker adjacent the terminal at the end of the wire.

Having thus shown and described a wire insulating and marking organization as constituting one form of the invention, and-- the manner in which it may be employed, it is desired to be understood that this form of the invention has been merely selected to show the principles of the invention, and that various other modifications and adaptations may be made'in practicing the invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

What I claim is:

A device for marking and protecting the ends of individual insulated wires adjacent terminal connectors during assembly of electrical wiring comprising, a cylindrical sleeve of relatively rigid resilient insulating material having a wire designation thereon, said cylindrical sleeve having a uniform inside diameter larger than the outside diameter of the insulated wire and freely movable along the insulated wire as may be necessary during the attaching of the terminal connectors 'to'the individual wire ends, and a conical locking bushing of resilient insulating material having a cylindrical smooth inside diameter substantially the same as the outside diameter of the insulated wire and freely movable along said insulated wire, said locking bushing having a single longitudinal slot on one side and being inserted in the end of said sleeve remote from the wire terminal connector while said sleeve is in position to protect the terminating insulation of the wire and cover any exposed metal surface adjacent the terminal connector, said locking bushing when forced into said sleeve'being deformed to press tightly against the inside of said sleeve and the insulation of the wire with a "frictional engagement maintained by the resiliency of the sleeve to hold both said sleeve and said locking bushing firmly in place, whereby; said sleeve may be clamped in a selected position 6 by said locking bushing to serve the triple func- UNITED STATES PATENTS tion of identifying the terminal end of the wire, Number Name Date protecting the terminating end of its insulation, R8301) stahl 18, 1936 and providing insulation for any exposed metal 1,649,923 Post 22, 1927 surface adjacent the terminal connector for the 5 1,665,629 Lavarack et aL Apr. 10, 1923 1,696,568 Fogel Dec. 25, 19 28 EDWARD BRANSON- 1,720,272 Harris July 9, 1929 2,326,100 Lavarack et a1 Aug. 3, 1943 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 10 2,431,999 Engelhardt Dec. 2, 1947 file of this patent: 2,441,393 Buchanan et al. May 11, 1948 OTHER REFERENCES Electrical Equipment, January 1944, page. 7.

2,360,304 McLoughlin et a1. Oct. 10, 1944 I 

